When the Clock Strikes Twelve
by Chocobubbles
Summary: The Titans East are invited to a New Year's Celebration in downtown Steel City. Will madness ensue? Obviously.


I know, it's nowhere near New Year's, but I was reading Scribbler's "New Year's Grief" and was immediately inspired! It's absolutely awesome, just like all her other works, so go check it out if you haven't yet!

Oh, and Bumblebee's dress is absolutely identical to Ciara's dress in her video for "Cant Leave Him Alone" featuring 50 Cent, except her's is purple and white whereas Bee's is black and yellow (obviously). If you want to know what it looks like, you can go to google images and type in "Ciara Can't Leave Him Alone" or look it up on youtube. It's a great song! Okay, I'm getting off topic (don't kill me, ffnet!), so enjoy the story! And thanks Chigirl for always reviewing my BumblesXSpeedy stuffz! Lotsa love for ya 3

* * *

When the Clock Strikes Twelve

For lack of better words, we could say that he was…disgruntled.

He tapped his watch, staring daggers at Aqualad for no apparent reason other than the fact that he was just _there_. The other boy yawned, shrugged, and silently replied with a face that oozed nothing but disinterest. Of course that pissed him off even more, so to keep his hands busy in a way that was not strangling his fellow teammate, he reached inside his coat pocket for his lucky comb, and raked it through his ginger hair with vigor. After that, he whipped out a mirror and amorously gazed at his reflection that spurred the need to gag in both Mas and Menos—a feeling that they did not bother to hide at all. Growling at the twins' repulsed expressions, Speedy picked them up by the scruffs of their necks and barked in their little faces,

"You know this is all _her_ fault."

Aqualad rolled his eyes and thwapped him on the head. Speedy dropped the two boys and they fell to the floor with a loud _thump_, for which they were not too grateful. They rubbed their rears and shamelessly muttered Spanish insults rapidly under their breath. Speedy shot a deadly glare at his teammate, who stared back unfazed but seemingly exasperated with his antics.

"_What?_" he asked.

They had been standing out in the hallway next to Bumblebee's room for more than thirty minutes now, thinking that when she had said "I'll be ready in a sec." she was being serious. Mas and Menos, being the speed demons they were, seemed to have lost the concept of time about when they surpassed the speed of sound, and figured they never had to worry about punctuality or trivial things like that. Aqualad never worried about anything, so this was not a problem for him.

So that only left Speedy, who, being the dark angsty one of the team had to gripe and complain about every little thing that didn't exactly bend his way.

However, Aqualad had to admit that he was getting a little tired of waiting around in a hot tux in a tower who's air conditioning had temporarily been disabled. Human clothes were so very different and so much more _troublesome_ than Atlantean wear.

They had been invited for an extravagant New Year's Gala at the Mayor's mansion, which was located right next to City Hall in downtown Steel City. The purpose of this high-class shindig was not only to ring in the New Year, but to celebrate the coming about of the Titans East and all the good things they had done for the once crime-stricken city. Of course the Titans were to be the guest of honor, and the Mayor was going to graciously present them with the key to the city.

Plus his hot daughter would be there, and all of her hot friends too.

Speedy would never change the mentality that the prettiest girls on earth were only bred in his hometown of Star City (with the exception of Bumblebee), but he did not want to miss out on a second of a ballroom full of glitzy supermodels in strappy short dresses. Being a Titan had obviously caused him to tone down his Casanova-esque appeal, but tonight was New Year's eve, and he was just raring to bust out of the strictly-business demeanor that their "leader" had hammered into his head. He was ready to party, damn it.

After all, once a playboy, always a playboy.

With any luck, tomorrow morning he'd be taking home a more than a few pairs of panties.

"She'll probably be out any minute now." said Aqualad hopefully.

"Thanks for the update Sir-gay-a-lot," sneered Speedy, "but that's what you said ten minutes ago."

Mas and Menos yawned, "_Somos cansados!_"

"I know, I know, but we have to go to this thing. I mean, we're the whole point of the party."

"Well," Speedy remarked callously, "we could always leave you with Mother Mae Eye."

"_No, no!_" the twins embraced each other with looks of utter horror on their faces. He smirked triumphantly. Aqualad thwapped him again.

"_Stop _doing that!" yelled Speedy, rubbing his head.

"Then quit being a jerk." he replied while trying to calm Mas and Menos down.

"I'll stop being a jerk when BEE-OTCH stops taking ten years to do her hair!"

He emphasized Bumblebee's crude nickname and shouted right at her door.

"I'm almost done!" she replied irritably from the other side, along with other various noises that both Speedy and Aqualad thought best to be left unquestioned.

"HURRY UP!" demanded Speedy impatiently, "WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR TOO DAMN LONG! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE TO OUR _OWN_ PARTY AND IT'S ALL YOUR—"

Suddenly the door slid open.

All four boys stared back in awe as the most beautiful women they'd ever seen descended from the doorway.

_Screw the supermodels_, thought Speedy (in all senses of the phrase).

Bumblebee's dress was yellow with black (honestly, did she wear any other colors?), stripes criss-crossing her bodice and swirling down the rest of her figure until it ended at the short hemline that barely reached mid-thigh. Everything about the way she looked was sleek and sexy—her outfit didn't so much as stem so much as a smidgen away from her body. It hugged every voluptuous curve she had, especially that really impressive one in the rear. Talk about bootycall.

She sported black peep-toe pumps to match, and she had traded in her usual afro-pig tails for an elegant spherical bushel of small, tightly curled locks on the back of her head. Her lips were red, full and luscious, just like they always were, and dear Lord, Speedy felt an irresistible need to attack them with his own sweep over him like a strong gust of wind.

Mas's and Menos's wide googly-eyes caused Bumblebee to laugh.

"You're too kind boys." she said sweetly, patting them both on the head.

"You look stunning." Aqualad said charmingly, taking her hand and walking her down the hall.

"Why thank you Waterboy," she replied, "you clean up pretty well yourself."

"Thanks." he flashed her a gleaming, white-toothed smile. Speedy scowled, trailing behind Mas and Menos who were following the pair anxiously.

"It took you long enough, BEE-otch." he said snidely, catching up to them and now walking by her side.

She frowned, looking him up and down as they walked.

"Nice tux." she said.

---

They had rode via limousine to the Mayor's mansion. It had a particularly high ceiling to accommodate Bumblebee's wings, but she had still looked uncomfortable during the ride there.

Speedy was in a really foul mood, and he wasn't even sure why. He stared down at his getup: a black tuxedo with a red tint, just like the one on his superhero uniform. Aqualad was wearing something very similar, except with a blue tint (_Feh, how original_, thought Speedy). Mas and Menos were wearing bright orange suits which did actually look quite adorable on them. They would probably have all the girls doting on them throughout the whole party.

Well, the ones who weren't already fawning over him that is.

Speaking of girls fawning over people, Speedy had to be weary of Aqualad. Ever since he had joined the Titans East, the Atlantean had been his competition—and he didn't ever even try. He always had a pack of fangirls chasing after him, a sight that made Speedy sick. However, tonight was going to be _his_ night. He wasn't Speedy, he was Roy Harper: smooth-talking gentleman extraordinaire! If anyone was going to be harboring a mob of women tonight, it was going to be _him_.

Although, keeping a little bit of his superhero alias was going to assist him a bit. He had kept his mask on, for obvious reasons, but also for ulterior motives as well. Every girl loves a bit of mystery, and he had just the enigmatic charm to supply them with.

As they pulled up to the Mayor's large estate, Speedy felt his previous irritability just drift away…

---

"Miss Bee!" the Mayor shook Bumblebee's hand and spoke heartily, "It's such an honor to have your team here!"

"Oh, it was our pleasure, Mr. Mayor, sir." replied Bumblebee happily. Aqualad was standing behind her with a matching plastic smile, but both of the twins had already made their way over to the food table. They got pieces of the giant triple-chocolate cake that were so big Speedy didn't even think they qualified as "slices", but hey, it _was_ their party.

Speedy, unlike Aqualad, wasn't feeling very supportive and hated the idea of exchanging small-talk with the short, egg-headed little man Bumblebee was conversing with, so he schmoozed through the crowd of people, smiling charismatically at every pretty girl that looked his way. As hot as they were, they were in what Speedy liked to call, the "mediocre range of hotness". They only scored about a five or six on his hottie- meter, but it didn't really matter anyway. They weren't what he was going for. His prize was standing by herself in the corner, with her dainty little nail-polished fingers wrapped around a sparkling glass of white wine.

"You must be Gabriella," Speedy held out his hand to her, "I'm Speedy."

For a very fleeting moment, her eyes went from his face to his hand. It was such a quick, split-second of I'm-outta-your-league superiority, Speedy wondered if it had actually happened at all. He figured he was imagining things, and erased the muse from his mind when her hand slipped so perfectly into his own.

"_Enchante_," she said in an extremely authentic French accent which she topped off with a seductive smile, "I know all about you."

"Really?" he asked amusedly, "What have you heard?"

"Oh you know," she replied, "just how you're the dreamy, mysterious archer who's saved our city countless times."

_Robin, eat your freaking heart out_.

"Well, I'm only part of a team…" said Speedy, feigning modestly, and doing it quite well if he did say so himself.

"Yeah, just the _best_ part." she tempted, moving closer to him. He restrained, reminding himself that displays of extreme horniness was a total turn-off to upper-crust types, at least when they were sober. Instead he brought about a new topic, and almost grinned when he saw she was disappointed by his flat out ignorance of her heavy allure. He didn't usually like playing hard-to-get, but maybe for her it would be worth it.

"What's it like being the mayor's daughter?" he asked, not too interested in her answer but acting like it meant the world to him.

"I guess I'm just like any other teenage girl…" she said, "but it sucks having security follow you everywhere."

"Yeah, I know the invasion of privacy would annoy me too."

"Yeah, that's annoying, but my guards aren't even interesting, you know? I can't even have a friendly conversation with them or anything. It makes me feel so isolated. I wish I had someone better to take care of me…"

"Hm…" pondered Speedy, "perhaps I could be your personal bodyguard for a little bit. I can assure you I'm _very_ interesting."

"Oh, I don't doubt it." she leaned in for a kiss.

"Gabby?" They were interrupted just when their lips were about to meet. Speedy was obviously piqued, but Gabriella was absolutely furious.

"What is it _Chenille?_"

Speedy turned to see a tall, thin, redhead standing in front of them with her hands on her hips. She was porcelain-skinned and pretty, but she didn't compare to Gabriella, who was blonde, blue-eyed and tanned. Next to Chenille, he saw a black-haired siren with curves that Speedy thought were nowhere near Bumblebee's, but impressive nonetheless. Her cat-eye liner made her look like some sort of Egyptian Goddess, and suddenly, the fact that he had two beautiful girls staring at him with a desperate need for attention struck him.

Heh, Gabriella _who?_

He smirked,

"Ladies."

---

"They are so cute!"

A group of women ranging from the ages of fourteen to eighty-four were swarming around Mas and Menos, pinching their cheeks and ruffling their hair. The twins were grinning wildly, thoroughly enjoying all of the attention they were receiving. Bumblebee eyed the girls wearily, her motherly instinct going insane inside of her. The mayor had been going on about a recent trip he had taken to the Amazon, but she hadn't been listening at all. The only times she responded to him were to occasionally nod or make one of those very recorded, "That's nice," or "How interesting!" remarks. Obviously, he hadn't caught on.

Aqualad was currently trying to subtly escape the company of a ninety year-old women blatantly coming on to him. Her face was saggy and pale, and had a disgustingly vast amount of make-up caked onto it. He was trying to unnoticeably stray from her advances, and but continued to nod when she spoke. So far he had learned that she was a widow, and yearning for someone to "talk" to back at her mansion on the other side of town.

"You're quite a handsome young man," she said, batting her clumpy black eyelashes.

He laughed nervously, "Oh, why thank you. You also look very…ravishing."

That had to be the biggest overstatement of the year, but what was he supposed to say? That her big, flouncy gown the color of rotten eggplant made her look like she was walking around in a giant potato sack? Yeah right.

She giggled shrilly, but it turned into violent hacking.

"Ms. Edgeworth, are you all right?" asked Aqualad worriedly, hunching over the old lady.

"Oh…I'm just dandy," she said, beaming back up at him again, "but I might require some…_mouth to mouth_."

"Ms. Edgeworth—!"

"What's going on over here?" asked Bumblebee, suddenly appearing by Aqualad's side as Ms. Edgeworth's shriveled old lips were an inch away from his own.

"Oh, darling!" said Aqualad unexpectedly, jerking away from the old bag and clutching Bumblebee's arm.

"_Darling?_" repeated Ms. Edgeworth suspiciously.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" said Aqualad, "This is my girlfriend, Bumblebee."

"_Excuse me?_" said Bumblebee darkly, "I aint—"

Aqualad slapped a hand over her mouth and held her close to his shoulder.

"Heh, heh…"

Ms. Edgeworth did not look like she was buying his act for a second.

"It doesn't sound like you two are a couple," she said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh, she's just shy about our relationship, but make no mistake! We are one-hundred and ten percent in love—as in committed—as in _not single_."

"I see…but you know, the way you were sweet-talking me earlier certainly didn't seem like something a dedicated lover would do." she said slyly.

_The way I was sweet-talking you?!_ Aqualad thought incredulously, _You wish, hag!_

Bumblebee swiped his hand away and glared at the both of them.

"Can someone _please_ fill me in on the current situation?" she said.

"Oh well it's simple really, dear," said Ms. Edgeworth in a sickly-sweet tone, "you're _boyfriend_ was just flirting with me. I was quite scandalized, to be honest. I mean, didn't you see the way he just attacked me with his lips?"

Bumblebee frowned in disbelief, "Well, I did see something, but him trying to kiss _you_ was not it. It was actually the other way around."

The elderly woman sniffled haughtily, "Let's not get petty, dear. It's not my fault that your man prefers me over you. I can't help it that I'm so gorgeous."

She primped the chaotic mess of thinning blonde hair on her lumpy head.

Bumblebee didn't even want to begin to relay the array of vulgar thoughts going on inside her head. Instead, she smiled and turned to Aqualad.

"Come on, honey," she said, cupping his chin and giving him a sultry press on the lips, "let's leave this old biddy to herself."

She pulled him by the hand and as they walked away, he waved dazedly back at Ms. Edgeworth, who looked as if she were about to murder someone.

---

Speedy's eyes were the size of saucers as he stared in disbelief at the sight not too far away from him. Bumblebee's lips were glued to Aqualad's.

"_The hell?_"

"Hey, it's my turn now Renée!" screamed a curly-headed blonde at the black-haired girl Speedy had met earlier. At the moment he had a group of ten girls following him around like he was king of the world, and they had been taking turns at being on his arm. After all, he could only walk around two girls at a time.

Both of his arms had been occupied for a while now, and the rest of his lovely fanclub was getting impatient.

"Back off you whore," spat Renée, "I get him for another five minutes!"

"It's my turn next anyway Jeannette!" said an angry Brunette, "You already had a turn!"

"Nuh uh!" argued back Jeannette, yanking Renée's hair, "I told you, _get off!_"

"Quit it, bitch!" shrieked Renée.

"Mmm, make them stop, Speedy-poo." said the Gabriella from Speedy's other arm. She had been granted multiple turns because of her status as the Mayor's daughter. Anything that didn't go her way she could simply report to Daddy.

"Speedy-poo?" she repeated, "What are you looking at?"

His eyes were still fixed on Aqualad and Bumblebee, who were now dancing in the center of the floor. They were talking happily about something, and Speedy felt an irate pang of jealously go off in his heart. He was oblivious to the full-blown catfight that had erupted behind him, and didn't even notice that Renée was no longer holding his arm, but instead slugging another girl in the chest.

"Huh?" he asked, half his mind back to reality and the other half plotting elaborate ways to kill Aqualad.

"EEEK!" Gabriella was now trying to fight off the brunette that had previously yelled at Jeanette, "Monica, what _are_ you doing?"

"Kicking your ass, that's what!" she yelled back, "I don't care if you are the mayor's daughter! I'm tired of you always stealing my guys!"

"He's not even _yours!_" retorted Gabriella, slapping her in the face viciously.

Speedy shook he head and whipped back around.

"Ladies, ladies," he said gently, "let's all just try and calm down. There's plenty of me to go around."

But they were not listening. Speedy simply shrugged and walked away quietly.

"DADDY!" he heard Gabriella scream behind him.

Speedy was making his way through the dancing throng of people. He had pinpointed Aqualad and Bumblebee's location in the center of the ballroom. They were gliding across the floor in a graceful waltz, in between two other couples. Behind them, a sweet-faced carrot-haired girl was carrying Mas to the rhythm of the music, and in front of them was a wavy-haired women doing the same with Menos.

Not wanting to make a scene, Speedy just intruded in between Bumblebee and Aqualad when he reached them.

"Mind if I cut in, Waterboy?" he asked.

Aqualad looked a tiny bit pissed at first, but just said, "Go right ahead."

Seeing that the ebony-haired dreamboat had lost his partner, a love-sick looking strawberry blonde frantically rushed her way up to him and asked him for a dance. He flashed her a million-dollar smile and said, "I'd love to." She almost fainted, but he grabbed her hand before she fell, and wrapped another arm around her.

Speedy momentarily watched them with a strong gag-me expression on his face, until Bumblebee laced her arms around his neck. He looked back down and reflexively snaked his around her waist.

"We need to talk, Bee." he said seriously. She looked back at him oddly.

"You didn't call me BEE-otch," she remarked with a cheeky smile, "this must really be bad."

"This isn't funny." he said, frowning, leading her around the floor as the DJ announced the last song before the New Year's countdown.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry." she giggled, bringing her face dangerously close to his.

"What's up with you?" he asked, "Are you tipsy or something?"

"No," she replied, "it's just funny to watch you act all serious. You look like you've got a bug up your butt."

"Since when are you and Waterboy an item?" interrogated Speedy. Bumblebee looked shocked for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing. Speedy twitched.

"A-are you…hahaha…_crazy?_" she said hysterically.

"Look, I saw you guys sucking face back there, so don't be acting all innocent."

She looked completely clueless, and then it dawned upon her.

"Oh, _that_." she said, "that was nothing."

Speedy stared at her skeptically.

"Don't give me that." he said coldly.

"It's true," said Bumblebee, "I was just trying to help him. Some old hag was coming onto him so I pretended to be his girl to get her off his back."

"Do you know how made up that sounds?"

"Yeah," admitted Bumblebee, "but it's the truth."

"Quit lying okay? Just tell me: are you or are you not dating Aqualad?"

"I'm not lying!" yelled Bumblebee.

"Sure, sure, and Raven decided to dye her hair hot pink."

Bumblebee giggled again, "That'd be _so_ funny!"

"I told you, this isn't a joke!" fumed Speedy.

"Hey, you're in no position to be questioning me about stuff like this when _you _were the one getting cozy with the Mayor's daughter, and pretty much every other girl at this party!"

"That's totally different. I—wait, were you _jealous_?"

"No!" Bumblebee huffed in a fluster.

Speedy smirked, "Uh huh."

"Shut up!" she snapped, "Just keep dancing, lazy-ass."

"Not until you tell me what the hell is up between you and Sir-Gay-A-Lot!" he whispered sharply.

"_Nothing!_" said Bumblebee exasperatedly, "Nothing is going on between me and Aqualad. I'm not his girlfriend; we're just _friends!_"

"All right folks!" boomed a loud voice from the stage, "It's the final countdown!"

Everyone cheered, "_Ten!_"

"Then why were you guys making out, huh?" demanded Speedy.

"_Nine!_"

"We weren't making out!" argued Bumblebee, "It was just a kiss!"

"_Eight!_"

"Oh, a likely story." muttered Speedy.

"_Seven!_"

"I'm telling you the truth!" pleaded Bumblebee.

"_Six!_"

"I bet you've secretly been seeing him for weeks…maybe even months!"

"_Five!_"

"What? Speedy, that's absolutely ridiculous!"

"_Four!_"

"Yeah, just like your story about 'pretending' to be his girlfriend!"

"_Three!_"

"I _was _pretending! I don't love him that way!"

_"Two!_"

"Then prove it!"

"_One!_"

Everyone erupted into an explosion of applaud, shouting "Happy New Year!" into the air. Champagne bottles fizzed, bubbled, and sprayed everywhere, corks flying every which way. The only ones who weren't cheering were, you guessed it, Speedy and Bumblebee, who were embraced in a passionate kiss smack-dab in the center of the room.

Mas and Menos smiled at Aqualad, "_¡Por fin!_"

"You said it guys," he made his signature, all-knowing grin, "_Finally!_"

END


End file.
